The stuff I'm working on is quite dense. I'm seeing every four bars as a scene in a film.

There's a need for pop. There's a need for radio. There's also a need to understand the brilliance and the depth of jazz and soul - and what hip-hop can be at its most brilliant and what hip-hop can be at its most simplistic.

You have to understand the vehicle, the form that allows you to do what you do, and why that is.

I'm doing what's in my heart at the time.

When new artists come out and they're not being cosigned or some company doesn't have a stake in it, or someone's not getting paid under the table to produce the whole record or bring it to video, the artist really suffers.

I mostly write to music, even though I know I sound free-form a lot. Then there are times when I'll have a concept and hold on to it until I come across the right music that makes a marriage.

Kids don't even realize what they're up against.